World News Quick Take

Agencies

BRAZIL

Falling cow kills man

Police say a cow fell through the roof of a small house in the southeast of the country killing a man and narrowly missing his wife. A police officer in the town of Caratinga said Joao Maria de Souza and his wife were sleeping when the .90 tonne cow fell through the asbestos roof and on top of the victim. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press. The officer said Souza died of internal bleeding at a nearby hospital. The incident occurred on Wednesday. The cow was apparently grazing on a hill above Souza’s home.

CANADA

‘Glee’ star found dead

Actor Cory Monteith, heart throb of TV series Glee, was found dead on Saturday at a hotel in Vancouver, police said. There were no signs of foul play, they said, and the cause of death was not immediately apparent. Paramedics responding to an emergency call found Monteith, 31, dead at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in the city center, Vancouver Police Department acting Chief Doug LePard told a news conference. In April, a representative for Monteith said the actor was at a rehabilitation facility for an unspecified substance addiction. Monteith had checked into the hotel on Saturday last week and was due to check out on Saturday, LePard told reporters. An autopsy has been set for today, LePard said.

CANADA

Quebec mourns train victims

A week after the heart of the Quebec village of Lac-Megantic was devastated in a fireball in one of the worst train accidents in the nation’s history, the St Agnes church bell rang 50 times on Saturday, once for each person believed to have died. Eight seconds intervened between each bell, then a minute of silence, after which 12 white doves were released from the steps of the 92-year-old church in an emotional midday ceremony. Mourners held hands to form a long human chain, couples embraced and many cried quietly, all heads down. The train of 72 cars carrying crude oil started moving toward Lac-Megantic when its brakes failed, building speed and eventually jumping the tracks in the heart of town on Saturday last week. Police said on Saturday that 33 bodies had now been recovered, up from 28 — although they have only been able to identify nine of them so far. They are searching for the bodies of the estimated 17 missing.

UNITED STATES

Boy pulled alive from dune

A six-year-old boy who spent more than three hours underground after being swallowed by a massive sand dune in Indiana was able to respond to “simple commands” when he arrived at a Chicago hospital, a spokesperson said. The boy remained in critical condition on Saturday at Comer Children’s Hospital and has responded well to being on a ventilator, hospital spokeswoman Lorna Wong said in a statement. Michigan City, Indiana, Fire Chief Ronnie Martin told WSBT-TV on Saturday that an air pocket saved the boy’s life. According to Bruce Rowe, a ranger at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore park along Lake Michigan, the boy’s family said he was playing on the dune on Friday when he dropped partially into it. While they were trying to dig him out, the dune collapsed, burying him under 3.3m of sand, he said. The police and fire dispatcher, and emergency responders were on the scene within 15 minutes and began digging by hand, Rowe said. Martin told the TV station that firefighters located the boy while prodding the dune after they detected the air pocket that enabled him to survive.